Baskin-Robbins

Since the dawn of civilization cheesecake and pie have been wrestling in a titanic struggle of after-dinner supremacy. No flavor or ingredient has been off limits. From plump summer blueberries to decadent combinations of chocolate and peanut butter, the two desserts have been firing salvos at each other for years

Thanks to an urban chic food trend in embracing American comfort food, pie seems to have delivered most of the damage (calorically, of course) in recent years. It’s even become part of our lexicon, practically becoming synonymous with all things Americana and just damn yummy. That’s not to say cheesecake hasn’t had some good showings, but with fall dawning on us and Dairy Queen doing double-duty with seasonally themed Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie Blizzards, it’s going to take more than a proverbial trip to The Cheesecake Factory to steal some of the glory.

Fortunately, Baskin-Robbins is fighting back, indulging my love for both pumpkin and cheesecake with September’s Flavor of the Month. With both a cream cheese ribbon and cheesecake ice cream base it covers almost enough dairy as a Wisconsin 4-H fair, adding gingersnap cookie pieces which promise to add a bit of crunch and crust to the pumpkin ice cream.

That’s right, pumpkin. Not “pumpkin flavored,” and not just orange color with some vague spice flavor, the ice cream base nails an authentic pumpkin taste buttressed by a wonderfully autumnal sweetness and cinnamon spice. Bordering on cloying but thankfully neither earthly nor artificial, its distinct brown sugar notes are balanced by the taste of fresh cream and milk. It’s that taste which keeps the base from the heavy connotation pumpkin pie sometimes conjures up, and despite what I’m sure is a veritable calorie overload thanks to no less than 11 different sweeteners in the recipe, a modest-sized cone isn’t enough to make you want to unbuckle your pants and watch Tony Romo throw six interceptions on Thanksgiving.

The cheesecake flavor is really quite splendid, and I mean this in the most endearing way possible. Despite a fascistic ONE SCOOP FOR YOU policy instituted by my local Baskin-Robbins, a thorough probing (also known as licking) of the base reveals a well-integrated cream cheese ribbon with varying degrees of tang and richness.

There’s a smooth mouthfeel throughout, and no sign of the chalky or gritty “cheesecake” chunks that one sometimes finds in frozen yogurt shops. On two separate swipes on the tongue I caught a burst of tang, which illuminated my palette amidst the sweet cream high. It encompasses both a distinctive cheesecake vibe and indulgent cream cheese texture, and together the two elements of cultured dairy work magnificently.

Insofar as flavor is concerned, the gingersnap pieces aren’t bad—the distinct taste of ginger adds a great balancing depth to the sweetness of the ice cream—but the crushed snaps aren’t exactly crust worthy. With a soggy texture and almost no crunch to speak of, they’re actually kind of lost amidst the overly viscous ice cream, which seems especially prone to melting on even a modestly warm fall day.

Actually, my biggest gripe was the deteriorating texture of the ice cream. While it starts off exceptionally creamy and smooth, it doesn’t hold up to the tongue and quickly melts, leaving one with less with the impression of pumpkin ice cream and more with the notion of chilled pumpkin bisque. It’s enough to make me kind of wish I was getting pie.

Is Baskin-Robbins’ Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream enough to deal a game-changing victory in the war between pie and cheesecake? Not quite, but that doesn’t make it any less delicious or seasonally appropriate. With a no-nonsense pumpkin flavor and distinctive cheesecake richness and tang, it definitely fires the first shots in this year’s fall flavor battle.

Wait a second there, Spielberg. I get that with the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, and Critics’ Choice awards packed into a two week span, January has become the de facto tie-in month for food branding to take a stroll down the red carpet. But you do realize, don’t you, that it’s January. As in, we just had a freaking polar vortex January. You’ve got to have something unique and unbelievably tasty to get me to put frozen stuff into my already frozen body in January.

Well, at the risk of also making January the de facto month for predictable food blogging puns, this year’s award for the best new ice cream flavor undoubtedly goes to Baskin-Robbins’ Movie Theater Popcorn Ice Cream.

I’ve got to give Baskin-Robbins credit. They do this whole “Flavor of the Month” and it’s usually something we’ve seen before – another Marvel comic book movie, if you will. A little chocolate here, some crushed up cookies there; sometimes, when they really go out on a limb, they might even add some fruit or fudge (edgy, I know.)

There’s nothing wrong with these flavors, but then again they’re hardly game-changing. Spider Man saves the world again but loses MJ? Bah! Seen it. Throw in the fact that my local Baskin-Robbins employees seem to take it as a personal insult when asked to walk the three steps from their station on the Dunkin’ Donuts side of the store to scoop ice cream on the Baskin-Robbins side, and it takes a lot for me to really get excited about their Flavor of the Month.

This month has been different. Between my unbound love of all things salty and sweet and my own experiments making kettle corn ice cream at home, I was cautiously optimistic that the film-inspired flavor would deliver just the right balance of sweet, salty, crunchy, and creamy – the fantastic four of texture and flavor, if you will.

The off-beat flavor not only delivered that elusive combination, it embodied it almost as well as Tom Hanks captured Richard Phillips in Captain Phillips. It all starts with the popcorn pieces, which, interestingly enough, are made from rice. Weird, right? Well, they don’t exactly look like perfectly popped and fluffy pieces of popcorn (actually, they have a stained gold color that familiar to those who drown their popcorn at the theater’s butter dispensers), but they sure have that buttery corn taste.

For you popcorn aficionados, consider these almost like little glazed nuggets of kettle corn, except with more butter. And more butter is always better, even in the case of ice cream. It’s almost toffee-like in its effect, providing a sweet crunch that stays remarkably brittle even in the extra creamy ice cream.

What’s more, there were no signs of ice crystals or other textural defects that sometimes come with larger mix-ins. About the size of a penny, the already salty-sweet popcorn flavored crisps get an extra shot of salty-sweet from the salted caramel swirl, which also adds an element of smooth dulce de leche-like viscosity to the ice cream. The whole flavor profile, with a depth of sweetness and hint of browned butter and salt, even elevates the lowly cake cone. Like a nominee for best supporting actress or actor, the cone actually takes on an element of – and I realize this sounds weird – pound cake flavor when eaten with the creamy, buttery ice cream base.

Granted, I like ice cream. But it takes a lot to get me to really, really, really like ice cream in January. But, as Brooklyn Nine-Nine pulled out a stunning surprise as the best new comedy at the Golden Globes (hilarious show, by the way), so Baskin Robbins’ Movie Theater Popcorn ice cream steals the show amidst over some otherwise worthy ice cream flavors. I just hope they bring it back in, shall we say, more conducive months for ice cream eating.

I look forward to summer blockbusters because with those big budget films I can expect a barrage of new or limited edition products to promote them. When the movie involves aliens, I can expect green colored items. Case in point, Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins are each offering several new limited time only menu items inspired by the upcoming movie Men In Black 3, and some of them are green.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ new items are:

Black Cocoa Creme Iced Coffee â€“ combines freshly brewed iced coffee with the taste of cookies and cream, and it’s served with a special pink and black straw. A large without cream has 230 calories, 1 gram of fat, 135 milligrams of sodium, 52 grams of carbohydrates, and 45 grams of sugar.

Ooey Gooey Caramel Brownie is Dairy Queen’s Blizzard of the Month. The treat combines gooey caramel, real fudge brownies pieces, and choco chunks blended with creamy vanilla soft serve. It was also Blizzard of the Month in April 2010 (read On Second Scoop’s review here). A small serving has 570 calories, 21 grams of fat, 14 grams of saturated fat, 0.5 grams of trans fat, 85 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 65 grams of sugar, and 12 grams of protein. I was going to put the nutrition facts for a large serving, but I didn’t want to blow your mind…and your heart.

This month’s Slurpee flavor has a football-related theme, so I shall fill this paragraph with football terminology. Cherry Orange Blitz will bicycle kick your mouth with fruity flavors, dribbling between sour and citrus. Oh wait, wrong football. According to the Slurpee website, Cherry Orange Blitz also contains ginseng, green tea, and guarana extract, so it might provide an energy boost for gamers. Speaking of those who enjoy games, specially marked cups will have codes that will help players earn rewards for the Facebook game Madden NFL Superstars. A 16-ounce cup of Cherry Orange Blitz has 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, and 27 grams of sugar.

Baskin-Robbins’ Flavor of the Month is French Toast. The flavor consists of french toast flavored ice cream with bits of gooey maple bread pudding. A 4-ounce scoop has 280 calories, 14 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 60 milligrams of cholesterol, 125 milligrams of sodium, 335 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 28 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

This month, Slurpee is partnering up with the WWE for this month’s featured Slurpee — Berry Citrus Slam. It’s a blend of raspberry and orange. If you’re into holding wrestling matches between collectable Slurpee cups, you’ll be happy to hear 7-Eleven will be offering exclusive cups and straws highlighing WWE superstars, like John Cena, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and other WWE wrestlers who aren’t popular enough to star in movies. An 8-ounce serving has 65 calories, 0 grams of fat, 5 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, and 17 grams of sugar.

Baskin-Robbins’ Flavor of the Month is Picnic Punch, a watermelon and green apple sherbet that reminds you summer is almost over and the cold non-sherbet eating months are around the corner. A 4-ounce scoop has 160 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 10 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 33 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

Cold Stone Creamery’s Gold Cone Flavor of the Month is Mojito Sorbet, which the Cold Stone website describes the lime-flavored treat as “a refreshing blend of mint coupled with the unique texture of a sorbet.” However, they forgot to add, “without the warmness of alcohol.” A medium serving of Mojito Sorbet has 310 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 5 milligrams of sodium, 74 grams of carbohydrates, 71 grams of sugar, and 0 grams of protein.

August’s $5 Featured Footlong is their Buffalo Chicken. I’m not a fan, but it appears others really like the combination of buffalo glazed chicken and ranch dressing. A six-inch Buffalo Chicken has 460 calories, 19 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 1390 milligrams of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 9 grams of sugar, and 27 grams of protein.